"This morning I was on the phone to a friend and he told me, ‘Today is your day!’ And in all honesty I had the same confidence about this long stage. The victory had to be mine," said Vasseur after his victory.

Michael Rasmussen of Denmark retains the overall lead, finishing the stage some 10 minutes later with the peleton. In fact, all of the top ten in the overall, finished with the same time, leaving the standings unchanged from yesterday.

"It was a long, hard day and all the guys are suffering in the heat, that’s quite obvious and 230 kilometers into a headwind takes its toll on everybody. My Rabobank team defended well today and we’ll have to wait and see how we go. There is another two days before we have the big test in the time trial on Saturday and then I’ll start thinking about the Pyrenees," said Michael Rasmussen.

He went on to say that he is now the leader of the Rabobank team: "There’s been a lot said about the situation regarding leadership between myself and Denis Menchov and I think it’s quite clear now that I’m the leader in the team now and I’m here to defend the yellow jersey for as long as possible."

Patrik Sinkewitz of Germany, who has already dropped out of the Tour after a crash, got more bad news when the A sample in a drug test on June 8, came back positve.

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